Calgarian needs a fun-to-drive vehicle that can also get through the nasty weather

by
Greg Williams | February 19, 2016

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Lori Cooper loves to drive. Although she spends 80 per cent of her behind-the-wheel time commuting between her suburban Calgary home and a downtown office, any car she owns has to be fun and peppy. It also has to have all-wheel drive – so when she was offered the opportunity to pilot the 2016 Lexus IS 300 AWD for seven days, Cooper was interested.

For 2016 Lexus has tweaked its line of IS models, a car the automaker refers to as a luxury sport sedan. The IS was introduced in 1998, and was engineered to offer more performance in an upscale car. In its third generation since 2013, Lexus has now introduced the rear-wheel-drive only IS 200t to the lineup – with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine.

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Also new is the IS 300 AWD (to replace the outgoing IS 250 AWD). This is the vehicle Cooper drove, and it’s powered by a 3.5-litre V6 paired with a six-speed automatic. Producing 255 horsepower and up to 236 lb.-ft. of torque, the V6 is a detuned version of the one found in the top-of-the-line IS 350 AWD.

The IS 300 AWD has a base MSRP of $41,700, and can be upgraded with premium and luxury packages. Lexus also offers three F Sport options, each more expensive than the last, and adding a significant amount of features.

Lori Cooper with the 2016 Lexus IS 300 AWD.

“I thought the IS looked sporty for a four-door car,” Cooper said of her Atomic Silver Lexus, fitted with the F Sport Series 1 package. For an additional $4,050, F Sport Series 1 adds a three-spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel, 18-inch wheels, power moonroof, rain-sensing wipers and an aerodynamic body kit with F Sport grille.

“The front end of the car is very striking with the spindle grille and the lights, and is obviously the feature Lexus wants to emphasize,” Cooper said.

Inside the car, the five-foot-four-inch Cooper found it easy to quickly get comfortable in the NuLuxe-trimmed driver’s seat. She liked the stitching on the dashboard and seats, and felt the leather-wrapped steering wheel was chunky and offered good grip.

“In an example of first-world problems,” Cooper added, “I would have preferred the F Sport Series 2 package because it offers a heated steering wheel and a backup camera.”

The cockpit of the Lexus

She appreciated the brushed aluminum trim in the cabin, and commented that it was stylish. The digital gauges found favour, but Cooper was bemused that the only way she could tell the time was by glancing at an old-school analog clock. On the other hand, “I quite liked the multi-media display, it reminds me of an iPad – very colourful with apps to choose how to adjust the media in the vehicle,” Cooper said. “I also found the Bluetooth was very easy to hook up.” There were no old-school knobs or dials, though, to adjust temperature in the IS 300.

“If you’re wearing mittens or gloves, as we need to do on occasion here in Calgary, you have to take one off to control the temperature,” Cooper noted.

In an effort to test out as many features of the IS as possible, she plugged in a USB stick to play some music. The USB port is in the console, and while the sound system worked flawlessly, what surprised Cooper was that with the stick in situ, she couldn’t close the lid on the armrest.

“The USB stick was a standard size, but it seemed a bit too long and we were unable to push the armrest down,” she said. “This is a big design flaw in my opinion.”

Something a bit more impressive was the power and performance of the 3.5-litre V6 engine. It offered quick acceleration both off the line and when travelling at speed. It wasn’t noisy, and the six-speed automatic shifted effortlessly and without any fuss.

“I tried it in manual mode and shifted using the steering wheel-mounted paddles,” Cooper said. “It took me a minute to get used to shifting without a clutch, but if I was driving on a twisty road, I’d play with it a bit – in traffic, I’d let the automatic do the thinking.”

Cooper behind the wheel of the all-wheel drive sedan

Cooper, who was born in Manitoba but raised in Calgary, likes a sporty ride. She got her driver’s licence the day she turned 16, and her first car was a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird. She split the cost of the vehicle with her dad, but was responsible for her own insurance and gasoline. “I had to get a job,” Cooper laughed.

The Pontiac got her through high school, and her grandma’s Ford Tempo – nicknamed Shirley Tempo – got her through university. She’s since owned a number of different cars, including a Volvo XC70 that she and husband Danny camped in and drove across Canada.

Now, they own a 1996 BMW Z3 as a summer driver, and Cooper’s regular commuter is a 2015 BMW X1 – she also rides a 2007 BMW F650GS motorcycle. Danny maintains a 2000 Nissan Frontier pickup.

Given her sporty preferences, Cooper did like the handling of the IS 300 AWD.

The distinctive front end of the Lexus

“It felt well connected and the steering was very responsive and smooth on the highway, and it had great parking lot manners, too,” she said. “The ride was very solid – you felt the road, but in a good way – it wasn’t really too stiff. The brakes were easy to modulate, and there was a good feel at the pedal.”

There was some snow and ice on the roads during Cooper’s test, and she said the all-wheel drive system in the Lexus worked seamlessly, while the winter tires fitted to the rims further boosted her confidence.

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Rated as spacious, the size of the trunk surprised Cooper and she said the IS 300 – as a four-door sedan – would carry just about anything.

Cooper concluded, “The Lexus offers a balance between performance and fun to drive with living a normal life and going to Costco and carrying passengers. Lexus has successfully made a four-door car feel quite sporty.”

DRIVER’S JOURNAL

Day One: It is a nice-looking car with clean lines both inside and out. I am grateful that I did not get the “Luxury” edition of the IS version of this vehicle, as I believe it comes with wood trim. I had the opportunity to do a bit of highway and city driving with it today. Made the exciting journey to Superstore to pick up groceries. The trunk seemed to be a good size – and would be able to handle a Costco trip, although today, all it had to manage were a few bags of groceries.

Day Two: Today was highway drive day. I invited myself to my family’s house out by Strathmore in order to take the car for a highway drive (and to take advantage of some home-cooking!). Today was also the first day of having a passenger in the car – my husband, Danny. He liked the amount of legroom in the car. He played with all of the gadgets on the multimedia display – testing the Bluetooth capability of the sound system. As far as driving the car on the highway, it was smooth and quiet.

Day Three: No more fun and games. Today is a workday, so it was the first day of putting the car through the rush hour. I was expected at a meeting on the other side of the city first thing, so I knew I would be in the car in traffic for about 40 minutes. Again, the car handles well on the off-ramps and accelerates smoothly in the merge lanes. Similar to the highway drive, the Lexus seems even as I changed lanes and travelled to my meeting. The seats have the option to be heated (three levels) and ventilated (three levels). The car seems very nimble. To that end, it easily navigates into parking stalls and corners well to fit into tight spaces.

Day Four: Drove the car this morning to work, parked it all day in a parking garage, then drove it home. Not a very exciting day for the car, but I did go out this evening to do a bit of shopping. Since most of my driving today occurred in the dark, there is a feature I noticed that I like – the rearview mirror. I think the technical term for it is electrochromatic mirror. It automatically dims or darkens at night in response to headlights reflecting in the mirror. I was also playing with the information system on the car’s computer. I like the fact that the car gives me real-time information about the tire pressure for all four tires. I’m sure if the pressure dropped in one of the tires it would alert me. These types of safety features put my mind at ease.

Day Five: Today I had another passenger in the car – a work colleague. We had a work function to go to tonight, so of course I offered to drive. She commented on the car’s smooth, quiet ride and its “get up and go.” She was able to quickly and easily adjust her seat to meet her specifications. She liked the touch climate controls, especially because she was able to adjust the temperature on her side of the car. She turned on the seat warmers and observed how quickly the car heated up.

Day Six: Today’s drive was to work, then to an appointment, then home. I had to fill up with gas today and the car calculated the fuel consumption at 12.5 L/100 km. Not too bad since I have not done a lot of highway driving this week – mostly city driving. The car always defaults to Eco mode (you have to use a dial on the console to change it to Normal or Sport). In Eco mode, the car is set (engine and vehicle systems) for reduced power consumption.

Day Seven: Last full day with the car. I’ve been reflecting on the car and want to score it on some different components:

Performance: I would rate this car high on the performance scale.

Interior: I would give this car medium marks here. It has a good trunk size, smooth-feeling steering wheel, stitching is nice, yet I’m not completely sold on the swiping climate controls or how the console is set up.

Exterior: Medium to high marks. I like the look of the car, and I like the front grille. It looks like a four-door sedan with a bit of flare – sporty, but not a traditional family car, either.

Technology: Medium marks overall. Technology is easy to use, as well as the dial to control the multimedia display. I wish navigation and backup cameras were standard features. High marks for the digital gauges on the dashboard. Low marks for the placement of the USB ports/cellphone plug.